Saturday, March 8, 2014

777 Down

It appears that we have the first crash of a Boeing 777, which had a virtually flawless safety record. Why does a 777 drop out of the sky from cruise in clear weather? It doesn't. There's probably never been a safer airliner. We don't know if it was terrorism or an EgyptAir flight 990 situation, but odds are it is not an accident. Even if it ran out of fuel -- as famously happened to an Airbus flying from Toronto to Lisbon -- there should have been something from the flight crew. (The Airbus glided to a safe landing in the Azores.)

Of course, we hope it was not deliberate. Let us remember the victims in our prayers and recall that none of us knows when God has fixed the date of our death.

UPDATE: Four passengers apparently boarded with stolen passports. There is a report that the aircraft turned back before disappearing. And Vietnamese military has reported a massive oil slick, though as yet no debris has been found.